The development of metallurgy in the ancient Middle East is discussed within an economic, political and social context. There is a brief history, from the eariiest discovered evidence of metal working, a simple cold hammered piece of native copper, or polished ore, from Zawi Chemi, 8500 BC to the complex processes of smelting and smithing common in the 4th millennium BC. These techniques were apparently utilized exclusively at Catal Hüyük, an urban center 2000 years earlier. The author suggests that this was due to the greater availability of food, resources and, therefore, time at Catal Hüyük, unavailable elsewhere until the 4th millennium when, due to the spread of urbanism, the demand for metal items increased. -- AATA